The present invention relates to the field of collaborative calendaring systems and, more particularly, to event scheduling forecasting for a calendaring system using historically collected event data.
Accurately allotting time for events (e.g., meetings, presentations, etc.) can often be a difficult task. Such factors can include number of attendees, quantity of topics being covered, and event location availability. A common tactic coordinators employ is to use “round numbers” such as hours and half-hours to schedule events. However, when a coordinator schedules too much or too little time for an event, event participants are adversely affected. For instance, when a meeting lasts longer than scheduled time, the meeting can conflict with participant's subsequently planned events. When events terminate early, attendees are often left waiting for another scheduled event to begin. During this time, attendees are typically not very productive because their work is affected by a subsequently scheduled events or they a left with a short period of time which proves difficult to accomplish tasks within.
One approach that is used to overcome these scheduling problems is to synchronize events based on attendee scheduling preferences. While this method is useful, it still relies on coordinators and attendees to set preferences and make estimates which are used as inputs to calculate the duration of events. Since coordinators and attendees regularly make imprecise estimates, this method also suffers from major drawbacks. At present, there are no ideal solutions for overcoming these scheduling challenges/obstacles.